CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES FOR JAPAN'S INTERNATIONAL POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF SECURITY AND DEFENSE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54658/ps.28153324.2026.16.2.pp.76-81Keywords:
Japan, security policy, Self-Defense Forces, Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan–United States alliance, Indo-Pacific, territorial disputesAbstract
This article examines the evolution and contemporary challenges of Japan’s external security and defence policy. Setting the discussion in its historical context – from the more than two centuries of isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate, through the modernisation of the Meiji Restoration and the militarism that ended in defeat in the Second World War – the study traces how Japan’s post-war security posture was shaped by the 1946 Constitution, the pacifist commitment of its Article 9, and the establishment of the Self-Defense Forces. It analyses the central role of the alliance with the United States, Japan’s growing engagement in East and Southeast Asia, and the ongoing debate over constitutional revision in response to a changing regional environment. Particular attention is devoted to the contemporary threats confronting Japan – the rise of China, a nuclear-armed North Korea, and unresolved territorial disputes with Russia, China, and South Korea – and to Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defence capabilities while balancing dependence on the United States against aspirations to regional leadership.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Dawid Jakimiec
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